Run Now, Wine Later

Is that a great motto or what? That was on a shirt we saw this weekend while we were in Napa, CA and we both just loved it! One of the best parts about going to these runs is the time we spend reading the shirts of all these creative people....but "Run Now, Wine Later" definitely had the top prize for us this weekend, especially considering the fact that we were in Napa...the wine capital of the world...or whatever.

So let's start from the beginning....as we were going to be out of town for the weekend and I needed to get in a long run, I decided to map out a new course and I pushed myself to my own personal record of 13.1 miles...I mostly did it because Michaela and I have been training together and since she was going to be running that distance on Sunday I thought it was only fair for me to do it on Saturday....it was pretty tough, but I was pleased with my time (I had a goal of under 2 hours and I made it in 1:55) and I didn't feel too bad after I was done. When I got back home we scrambled for some last-minute packing and then we hit the road to Napa.

It's a fairly short car ride from our place (about an hour and a half), and we made it up there just in time to meet John, KC, and Nicholas for lunch. The boys were super excited to see each other and after being in the car for a time, we could tell that Landon wasn't all that psyched to have to sit still in a restaurant....but he did alright, and when we were done, it was off to Silver Oak for some wine-tasting.

For those of you that don't know wine (and Michaela and I are both in this group), Silver Oak is a very fancy-smancy wine that usually sells for no less than $80/bottle...with most of their stuff selling much higher...

But the cool thing is, you can go to their vineyard in Napa...pay $20....and then get 3 very good glasses of wine...and they were very generous with their pours....so all in all, it was almost like $20 for over half a bottle of awesome wine...Definitely worth the trip the next time we're in Napa for sure.

The Vineyard itself was absolutely gorgeous...it looked like a cross between an immaculate farmhouse and a castle...it also had a really cool tower and a fountain...speaking of the fountain....about 3 minutes after we got there, Landon went over to the fountain and attempted to climb into the water....As we were about to head into this place...the fountain was for pennies, not children...and the ominous sign that there were no life guards on duty...I thought it best that he didn't go in there, so I yanked him off to the side to explain to him that the water was "yucky" and that we weren't allowed to go in there...

Landon seemed to get the point, and spent a few minutes playing with Nicholas....but as soon as it was time for a shift in guard-duty (Michaela was taking over for a few)...Landon seized his opportunity and took the plunge! Let's just say that every person coming in or going out of Silver Oak thought it was the funniest thing ever (including the lady that was there to greet the patrons), and even KC had to turn away as she was having a fit of laughter! Michaela and I weren't pleased....but in the end, it was just water...so we threw his wet shorts on top of our car to dry in the sun while we threw on some dry clothes for the tasting.

After all the festivities, we checked into the hotel and then the three of us headed out to dinner. We elected to take Landon to this Italian place (so Michaela could get in her carbs for the big race), and all-in-all, it was awesome. Landon was on his best behavior, we all had a nice dinner and a relaxing evening.

This morning Michaela woke up at 5am, got ready, and snuck off to the race....Landon and I caught a few extra ZZZ's and then met up with John, Nicholas, and KC's mom who came to watch the race.....we found a great spot and camped out until the girls crossed the finish line. Michaela finished in 1:51 which was a PR for her (you can see her cross in this picture...the clock shows the race start time, but she crossed the start line a little after that), and I was very proud of her. Landon managed to sit tight the entire time until she finished, so I was also proud of him.

When everything was said and done, we packed up the car and headed back to Sac....it ended up being a great weekend...but also extremely tiring....it's only 4pm and I feel like I need a nap...I'm not really sure if it was all the wine that we tasted, the sun, the running around after Landon, or the 13 miles we put in....but we're all exhausted...in fact, I think I'm going to go curl up on the couch and enjoy the last few hours of our weekend.

We actually have a lot more pics from this weekend to post, so we might just do a "picture post" later this week to catch up...in the meantime...

Hope your weekend was as enjoyable as ours....see you next time!